Buzz Through Berlin

Well my fifteen hour rest to sweat out the fever actually left me refreshed enough to face the hard work of sightseeing. Granted five hours isn’t enough to do any kind of justice to this old/new city, but at least I learned a few things on my Buzz through Berlin. First Berlin tip, this is not a city you meander through. Berlin must be attacked, strategically, with a plan. Come here with enough time and know in advance what you want to see. While the transport system is relatively efficient in terms of the number of trains and possible routes, there is just too much ground to cover to create a system that does not take time to get from any given point A to any given point B unless they happen to be close enough to walk; in which case you would, uh, walk. Monuments and museums are in opposite quarters of the city. Trams stop less often than in Paris or London which means stops are further apart. In this city you really want to know where you are going and how to get there. A little pre-preparation will keep you from wandering up and down the steps dazed and confused for thirty minutes as to why there is an Underground station but no line for the metro you want. That would be because their overground S-line and Underground U-line are juxtaposed on the same map. The S line, by the way, is actually a great way to see the city. Grab a guide book and a coffee and you can ride through the monuments, reading at your leisure about the ones you pass.

A little preparation will also keep you from wasting forty five minutes deciding which of the dozen bus tours you should take. I prefer hop on/hop off tours with a good route, multiple stops, live information, and an open upper deck. Each had some but not all of these elements. I was all in all pleased with the City Circle tours though I hadn’t noticed that their upper deck had windows while the Berliner didn’t. Windows seriously restrict photo taking opportunities. A little prior research would have also let me know about the New Berlin FREE walking tour, yes free. Three and a half hours through many of the major sites of the city. I followed a group for a while, impressed with the enthusiasm and knowledge of the guide, trying to surreptitiously listen in on what he was saying without getting busted. I later passed him alone in front of the Dom, told him what a great job he did, and asked him what company he worked for. He gleefully handed me a brochure, thanked me for the compliment, told me that the tours were free and the guides were paid by tips, and that he loved his job. If I had known that when I first eavesdropped, I would have joined right in on the rest of the tour and tipped him for enthusiasm!

This is not a city you meander through. Berlin must be attacked, strategically, with a plan.

The free New Berlin tour guide is worth grabbing when you arrive in town (or check out their site beforehand www.newberlintours.com). They give a quick rundown of little things like how to get around on the public transport and a descriptive listing of museums and sights, as well as decent transport and city maps and listings of hostels and restaurant suggestions, including a few coupons. I looked at it for the first time on the train and wish I had seen before the bilingual power yoga studio – how happy my body would have been for a three day yoga boost!

The other interesting tour option is the Fat Tire Bike Tour. Needless to say, they cover more ground in less time and the price is comparable to a bus tour. I can’t comment on their quality but with successful programs in Paris and Barcelona, I’d say they are doing pretty well. An interesting incentive for backpackers, they offer laundry services and internet access. For 6 euro you can wash and DRY (a rarity in Europe) your clothes while you surf! I do miss clothes fresh from the dryer….

Aside from the logistical challenges of seeing all this city has to offer, there is, I think, an even more compelling reason to think ahead with the help of a guide or two. Berlin was a great capital city for hundreds of years as well as a capital city of Germany since the 1800s. During World War II, over seventy percent of the city was destroyed. Imagine… The war was followed by decline, the loss of its position as the capital of Germany, and ultimately the Wall-defined division between East and West. Many of the tourist sights today have been rebuilt – some are still under reconstruction, some have only been recently finished. Many others are newly constructed, most since the fall of the wall in 1989. The city is nicknamed Europe’s largest construction sight and rightly so with dozens of cranes on every corner. There is more construction than any other European city and in fact worldwide it is second only to Shanghai in new construction. The entire Potsdam Plaza for example was built in just ten years, beginning in 1993 and finishing in 2003. I have friends who will roll their eyes at this, but I think this affects the energy of the city. Almost the entire city, even the buildings that are reconstructions, have been built in the last fifty years. There are beautiful squares with seemingly ancient architecture, but they don’t feel old. Without the hundreds of tourists pouring in and out of certain places, you could walk right by them and never notice it was a sight of interest. Sure the Dom is hard to miss, along with the numerous memorials, but in older cities there is an energetic flow that I believe helps guide meandering tourists along the well-worn path of visitors throughout time. Berlin doesn’t have that. Don’t get me wrong, that is I’m sure part of what contributes to its vibrancy. But it is also a good reason to pull out your guidebook and strategize in advance what you want to see; otherwise you might just miss it.

The one exception to this energetic consistency was Gendarmenmarkt. One step off the bus and you feel that air of Parisian affluence. The square is breathtaking with a muse adorned memorial to Schiller in the center surrounded by the Schauspielhaus, Deutscher Dom, and Franzosicher Dom (all three of which have been partially or completely restructured since the war). Do you remember the movie ‘Run Lola Run’? About the girl, Lola, who ran a lot? Remember she kept running back and forth across a checkerboard square? That was Gendarmenmarkt. Interestingly one of the buildings was also used for the London scene in Jackie Chan’s flop, ‘Around the World in 80 Days’. Imagine the tourists’ confusion to arrive at this beautiful square and see a sign on the front of the building naming it the Bank Of England instead of the Schauspielhaus!

I stopped for coffee at a little open air cafe on the square to write postcards to the sound of the accordion. Interestingly Berlin is filled with young children, between 9 and 13, playing small accordion boxes. They all have bright smiles and chipper attitudes as they wander the streets playing for pennies. I am curious where they come from and where they go to for there is never an adult in sight.

From Gendarmenmarkt I made my way to the back side of the Forum Fridericianum containing the Humboldt Universitat (now home of the Law Faculty for the University), the Saatsoper (the state opera house); the Alte Bibliothek, and St. Hedwigs-Kathedrale (no not the namesake of a homosexually tolerant church – quite the oppositie, a rare catholic house of worship in the protestant packed town). It was in this square that the infamous book burning took place on May 10, 1933, during which 20,000 books were burned. The authors included not only notable Jewish writers like Einstein but alternate thinking authors like Freud, Kant, Marx, and even Ernest Hemmingway. There is a Sunken Library memorial, as well as a stately stack of giant sized books with names of the censored authors engraved on the bindings. Across from the square is the Neue Wache – a memorial with an interesting history as it has changed the focus of its victims. Since 1993 it has been the memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany, commemorating the victims of war and tyranny. Kathe Kollwitz’s “Grieving Mother and Dead Son” stands alone in the center of a large empty room with an open air dome above inviting quiet reflection.

The Forum and Neue Wache are opposite each other on the Untere den Linden, famous for the military marches of many great dictatorships. Brandenburg Gate (which looks just like it looks in all the pictures) begins (or ends depending on your perspective) the Untere den Linden while the Berlin Dom stands sentry at the other end. The Dom is impressive for its sheer size if nothing else – definitely a wide angle lens requiring church! Much of it was rebuilt after the war, though surprisingly the Dom was only built in the first place at the turn of the century. It is one of the few Dom’s that charge an entry fee. If not for my candle-lighting addiction and my student discount, it would not have been worth the 5 euro entry fee. I must say, however, inside the artwork was indeed breathtaking. It was impossible to capture with my camera the play of light on the gold and brown tones of the altar artwork (though I found a postcard that did). One section of the church is still used for marriages and baptisms and so I lit my prince-charming/healthy baby candles there. (There are a lot of you wanting spouses and babies!)

Areas I didn’t have time to stop at and wish I did included Checkpoint Charlie which was buzzing with people meandering through the photo/history exhibit; Potsdamer Platz which I must say is an impressive architectural feat with its numerous sky scrapers and modern apartment buildings all built in just ten years; the Parliamentary Buildings including The Reichstag with a view of the city from the glass cupola that is supposed to be breathtaking; the Topography of Terror, an open air exhibit that runs alongside on of the few remaining sections of The Wall - which I was surprised was so small and nondescript though the graffiti is as inspiringly artistic as the masterpieces of some museums;and the TV Tower, the highest man made structure in Europe, now sporting a pink patterned T Mobile soccer ball instead of the traditional soccer ball that rose above the city all of June and July in honor of the world cup. Asia and Igor were interviewed by the local paper for ideas what it should be next, they suggested a smiley face though on reflection decided it would be better as a globe. My time was winding down and it was obvious I was going to have to skip entirely the west part of the bus tour. I hopped off at the Hautbahnhoff with just enough time to finish my Germany postcards, grab my suitcase and Starbucks, and race, breathless, to step on the train to Poland one minute before departure. It left ten minutes later. At least the Germans are consistent.

Before I go just one last bit of Berlin trivia – Did you know that in John F. Kennedy’s famous speech regarding the Berlin Wall, he stated, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” Translation? “I am a jelly donut.” Maybe that is why there are more Dunkin’ Donuts in this town than I have seen since Arlington, Texas in 1973! Now - Ich bin Berliner! Well, not really….